In the fall of 2021, Redwood City School District (RCSD) placed a full-time, district-employed mental health counselor in each of its twelve schools in order to bolster district capacity to support student mental health and wellbeing. Stanford's John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities (Gardner Center) conducted a Year 1…

Resilience can be a protective trait to promote mental health when implemented in the early years. This study explored the use of storytelling to foster children's learning of resilience. A pedagogically appropriate storybook was used to facilitate and embed the skills of resilience in children at primary school. Teachers (n = 2) and…

Because the COVID-19 pandemic has been implicated in increased mental health concerns for families of low income, we aimed to describe maternal perspectives about the pandemic's impact on their kindergartener's mental health during the 2020-2021 school year. We conducted 22 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with U.S. mothers with low income who…

Although efforts have been made to improve teacher professional development and ongoing supports, limited research has examined how early childhood education (ECE) teachers support each other informally. The present study describes how one type of informal support, collegial support (e.g. instrumental and expressive), enabled ECE teachers to cope…

As the nation transitions from responding to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to navigating its ongoing impact on youth and their communities, K-12 students continue to experience mental health and wellbeing challenges. In the fall of 2021, Redwood City School District (RCSD) placed a full-time, district-employed mental health counselor in each…

Background: Understanding teachers' appraisals of student wellness services and supports during COVID-19 is essential to strengthening services and improving student health outcomes. This mixed-method study aimed to examine US PK-12 teachers' appraisals of student wellness services and supports during COVID-19. Methods: This study focuses on…

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, children have presented with increased psychiatric symptoms. Little research has been done regarding early childhood mental health, particularly those from vulnerable socioeconomic contexts who are exposed to adversity. We aimed to assess mental health and the impacts of the pandemic on this population. A survey…

This study aimed to identify the degree of contribution of mothers' treatment patterns to the emotional balance of kindergarten children and to achieve the objectives of the study; two scales were built: a questionnaire to measure mothers' treatment patterns and a questionnaire to measure the emotional balance of kindergarten children after…

This study investigated the repercussions of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the subsequent quarantine on the emotional well-being of children in their initial years of formal schooling, with particular emphasis on children with special educational needs (SEN) and children from high and low socioeconomic statuses (SES). This longitudinal study…

Working memory (WM) is highly predictive of academic performance, and individual differences in WM can already be observed in early childhood. However, obtaining accurate measures of WM in kindergarten-aged children is labour intensive. From an intervention perspective, identifying correlates of WM that are more readily measured can help identify…

The FRIENDS Resilience programs provide cognitive-behavioral skills across the developmental spectrum and can be applied as a universal or selective prevention program. In the current study, we assessed whether, relative to the schools' existing counseling curriculum ("guidance"), FRIENDS improved social skills, problem behaviors, and…

Against the backdrop of the worldwide spread of COVID-19, this study aims to validate a model for coping with psychological distress and examine the effect of music listening, as a coping strategy, in moderating and lessening the effects of stressors on psychological distress. Based on 198 returned questionnaires from preservice kindergarten…

School-based day treatment is an intensive mental health service for children with social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties. Research on day treatment is scarce and descriptions of program models are lacking. We used stimulated recall interviews to explore the moment-to-moment processes and strategies of classroom staff in a day treatment…

State and local officials must establish effective and supportive transition policies that recognize an ongoing process and include collaboration across ECE settings and elementary schools. This toolkit offers immediate steps needed to strengthen children's transition this coming year and beyond. [Additional funding for this toolkit from the…

The study addresses the emotion of anger in preschool teachers -- its frequency, the circumstances of its emergence, and strategies for its regulation -- as well as the occurrence of mental health problems in preschool teachers and their connection to emotion regulation. The sample comprised 143 preschool teachers from various kindergartens in…